Do Good.

It is with heavy hearts that we share this news with the Steppin Razor Massive today. Our drummer, co-founder, creative collaborator, and long-time manager, Mark Patterson, has decided to abdicate the throne (drummer humor). We’ve copied his announcement below, and we want to emphasize the invitation to our last three gigs together. It certainly will never be the same without Mark, who sells himself way too short. Rufus, as we often refer to our drummer of over 10 years, has been a tremendous asset to this band, through all of his hard work, his devotion to his craft, his voice of reason, and his creativity. More importantly, he has been a good friend, and we will miss the fun and ridiculousness at gigs and rehearsals, especially the jokes that we wouldn’t dare repeat to anyone outside of the band.

Mark, we wish you the best of fortunes in your new and exciting position, and we’re glad that your many years of commitment to the company have finally paid off in a big way. We also hope you keep your creativity alive through your photography. You have some serious talent, and we look forward to watching what you do with it for years to come.

“So what will become of Steppin Razor?” you ask? Steppin Razor will never die, of course; and no, we’re not going to lay down our axes anytime soon. We will most likely have a few more acoustic trio gigs over the next few months, but just as we always slow things down through the winter, we have every intention of emerging in the early spring to play some shows in one form or another. But let’s focus on the near future! We’ll see you:
Thursday, October 8th – Drake Tavern
Thursday, October 29th – Drake Tavern

Now heed the words of Rufus:

Hi all,
I’ll try to keep this relatively short, but no promises. Thursday, October 29, my band Steppin’ Razor will be playing at The Drake Tavern in Jenkintown.
This will be my final performance with the band.
Words haven’t been on my side this week, but I’ll try to break this down for those of you who want to know more. Is a band a band if it doesn’t have any kind of support network; fans, friends, family? No, I don’t believe it is. For 10 years I’ve seen this network grow and evolve with this band. For those of you who’ve never experienced something like this, please believe me when I say it’s amazing.
But as wonderful as it’s been, I now have a need to move in a different direction with my life, and maintaining my role within the band while I do so will not be possible. (Sounds cryptic, huh? No, I’m not dying. I mean, we all are, technically, but I don’t think I have any immediate life threatening diseases or anything).
Why? Man, you people are nosy. Okay, fine. I’ve always wanted to work in the music industry. I was hoping it would be as a professional drummer, but the reality is I’m nowhere near good enough to do that. I’m not just saying that because I’m down on myself but because it’s true. I’ve had some amazing opportunities when it comes to learning more about the craft of drumming and I squandered them. I was much younger and overflowing with derp (I’m sorry I let you down, Martin). Now, somehow, this college dropout has found his way into the industry, and over the last year, I’ve earned a position within one of the top 10 largest music retail companies in the country where my voice and ideas are heard and respected. I know, crazy, right!
I know what you’re going to say; “dude, you’re leaving the band for your day gig in an office?! What the actual F is that?!” One, it’s not the only reason, Two, I actually like what I’m doing, and I’m not ashamed of it. Three, there are other reasons, but they are incredibly personal and I have only shared them with my bandmates and the people in my life that are the closest to me. For now, I just have to leave it at that.
I’ve always thought of regret as a wasted emotion. All of the mistakes we make in this life are really opportunities, and I’ve made a ridiculous number of them. However, I do have one regret when it comes to this band; I don’t think I ever really expressed how grateful I was for every kind word said about us. For every person who decided to spend their time and money with us. For every gig we played. For every dollar we made. Maybe the opportunity lies in how I choose to live my life from this point forward. I guess I’ll find out later.
All that being said, everyone is invited to our last few gigs together. We’re (hopefully) playing 2 more shows at The Drake, Thursday October 8 and 29. We hit at 8:30. I’m not going to lie, I won’t have a drink with you because I’ll be driving a long way home, but I’ll gladly share hugs and handshakes. In the immortal words of Wyld Stallyns, “Be excellent to each other.”

Spring is finally here, and we couldn’t be more excited for some warmer weather! We know you’re all excited, too, but we thought we’d make things even more exciting for you by announcing our spring lineup, which will be topped off by one extra special event: Steppin Razor’s 10th Anniversary Celebration!

That’s right: this year marks a full decade since we came together to play the roots rock reggae that we have known and loved for a long time. The band has gone through a few changes since then, but it has been a real privilege to share our original music, along with some of our favorite classics, with such a supportive group of people, from West Chester, to Philly, to Atlantic City, and beyond. We hope to see all of you on May 30th at Sprout Music Collective to celebrate the occasion.

Here’s the full spring lineup, including our alternating Reggae Thursdays at the Drake Tavern:

Many thanks to all who came out to support us at the Note last night! Nuff respect to the New Kings of Rhythm and the Original Wailers for most excellent sets.

Wait a minute. Who’s that 5th person pictured on stage with us? Oh, that’s our good friend, Dan “Brawta” Poruban. We just made him an official member of the band last night, but he’s been an extended member of the SR family for a while now. He played his “pope smasher” (bass drum) on “All Dem Righteous Stand,” the last song on Against the Current; his extensive collection of Rastafari literature was a huge part of B. Hold’s thesis research; and his wall of reggae CDs has introduced us all to a lot of our influences over the years.

It’s been about a year since we last updated this blog, but we certainly had a fun-filled 2012: Reggae in the Park at the Mann Center w/ Jimmy Cliff, Beres Hammond, Luciano, and so much more talent; a Radio 104.5 Summer Block Party at the Piazza w/ Dirty Heads and I am Dynamite; a couple of fun sets at Musikfest‘s Volksplatz Stage; and a bunch of other fun shows, including some unforgettable times with bands like John Brown’s Body and Tauk. We finished the year celebrating the arrival of a little new addition to the Razor family, but now we’re getting ready to get back in full swing for the spring and summer of 2013!

The best way to stay up to speed with our show schedule is by following us on Facebook and Twitter. Signing up for our newsletter is not a bad idea, either. But this first spring show announcement is so big, we had to launch a full-on social media assault.

We’ve been asked to open for the legendary Toots & the Maytals once again, this time at the Trocadero on Wednesday, April 10th. When we opened for Toots a couple of years ago at the Blockley, the show sold out fast, and tickets sales are already looking great. So order yours today, or let us know ASAP if you want to skip the service charge by getting your tickets directly from us.

We just want to express our gratitude once again for an unforgettable release party last Saturday night. The Social Lounge was packed with both new and familiar faces, and it really brought us back to the good ol’ days at Spence Cafe. Lots of dancing, lots of screaming, nuff inside jokes to make us plenty sentimental, great performances by Allyson (saxophone) and Ian (trumpet)…. Seriously, unforgettable.

Donnie, Nash, and all of the staff at the Social Lounge: thank you for helping us celebrate this new album in the best possible way. We look forward to returning very soon.

We’re extremely happy with Against the Current, our 2nd of many albums, and we’re excited to share it with as many people as have ears to hear. After so much hard work, it was great to perform the album in its entirely, along with some old favorites, for such an enthusiastic crowd. You all reminded us of why we do this in the first place: because music moves us all, and we love helping the Steppin Razor Massive move in the most positive way possible. We offer our infinite thanks for your support, and we hope you’ll continue to spread the good vibes….

Last week, B. Hold called and asked me to write a brief bio of him for the Steppin Razor blog. It was around 4 in the morning when my phone rang, and B explained that he always gets up so early to milk his neighbors and gather the flying squirrel eggs. He rambled on for several minutes, snoring intermittently, and barely conveyed his reason for calling: since he had written the blog posts about James, Johnny, and Mark, the band wanted someone else – someone with no knowledge whatsoever of who or what Steppin Razor is – to write Ben’s bio. Since then, I have been familiarizing myself with the band’s music, and it’s okay, I guess. But what really impressed me as I talked to band members was their high regard for one another as individuals, a respect that is unashamed of the most personally revealing information.

James Hoy, for example, offered a graphic account of Ben’s first attempt at colon-cleansing:

We were loading in for our weekly Wednesday gig at Spence Cafe in West Chester, and Ben was the last to arrive, as usual. He came in haste, almost crashing into the dumpster, yelling something about how he might have soiled his pants with falafel and rancid apple juice. Luckily, his boxer shorts intercepted most of the mess, but he was left with rotted bean curd sepia colored pantaloons, and no change of clothes with him that night. I had to stand behind him when we played at Spence back then, and believe me, it was a struggle to get through three whole sets on that fateful reggae night.

Since then, B always brings extra pants and underwear, his fiber-rich diet making this absolutely necessary. He admits to being a chronic sharter, but he says, “It’s nothing a little handful of Gold Bond can’t absorb.” Ben was even offered an endorsement deal from Gold Bond on one occasion, but declined when he was told that he wouldn’t be allowed to demonstrate in commercials how he applies the medicated powder. Still, everyone who knows B. Hold the Sharter considers his name synonymous with Gold Bond. John Myers recalls of the aforementioned reggae night,

On the third day after the shart of Bean, a Gold Bond sticker arose from the depths of the dumpster of Spence and was placed on the steering wheel of my chariot to remind me of the events that had taken place….and there it still lies, withered and torn, but untouched, as it is the holiest of Gold Bond stickers.

Mark Patterson spoke fondly of another of B. Hold’s famous tendencies: falling asleep whenever something awesome is happening. Whether it’s a great song on the radio, a triple rainbow, or James doing a Jack Daniels-induced chicken dance on Johnny’s face,

…he just passes out. Maybe he has narcolepsy or something, I don’t know, but this one time, we had a dance party at the old Steppin Razor beach house, and as soon as everybody started dancing, B. Hold passed out and teleported himself to his bedroom. After a few hours, we wanted to wake him up to join us, so we shouted, “To B. Hold’s room!” and charged in. Somebody placed a magic 8-ball on his chest, waking Ben up quickly, but this proved fatal. And this other time, we were all riding in the van rocking out to Lady Gaga or SOJA or something, and Ben passed out and started snoring really loud. James took a picture of Ben that time, and oh man, it looks like a dead version of that Chicken Lover guy from that one episode of South Park. It’s hilarious, but sometimes I feel bad that he always misses out on the awesome stuff that we all get to experience. But then I stop feeling bad because it’s hilarious.

"...looks like a dead version of that Chicken Lover guy from that one episode of South Park." - Mark Patterson

B. Hold also considers himself something of an anthropologist, always reading things that nobody cares about and traveling to other parts of the world to poke his nose into other people’s business, thinking that he can somehow live up to his motto, “Do Good,” that he stole from somebody in Jamaica. Everywhere he goes, he carries around something to write with, convinced that he will eventually capture a brilliant idea on paper. One of his old notebooks was intended for this purpose, but it came to be used by all of the band members for jotting down random thoughts. This “Black Book,” as it is affectionately called among the Steppin Razor family, contains top secret information, most of which is written in Sarlacc language, B. Hold being one of the few people on earth who can still decode this ancient alphabet.

For all of his quirkiness and repulsive characteristics, the other three members of Steppin Razor have grown rather fond of B. Hold since the bassist first joined the band as a “bongo apprentice and triangle smasher.” Hoy recalls one of the happiest evenings of his life, “I was over at Ben’s bungalow, showing him some scratch tracks I had recorded – which eventually became ‘Against the Current’ and ‘Rise Up’ – and he made this ridiculously good adult beverage that he called ‘Vitamin Drunker,’ which was basically just cheap cheap vodka and orange juice, maybe some of those squirrel eggs, I don’t know, but it was gooood.”

B. Hold, whose contributions to the new Steppin Razor album include “All Dem Have” (below) among others, currently lives in Big Beaver, Pennsylvania with his cat and five children. He works for the CIA and none of the above is entirely true.

This week, we released the title track from our 2nd album, Against the Current. It’s our 2nd-to-last “Reggae Wednesday” release, and it’s one that represents where we’ve been and how far we’ve come over the last few years since the formation of Steppin’ Razor. You can read all about that in this previous blog post. If you haven’t heard the song yet, give it a listen right meow…

James “P. Dub” Hoy wrote the music for “Against the Current,” and both Johnny and B. Hold (that’s me!) wrote the lyrics. Then it sat on the back burner for a couple of years while we contemplated becoming a Pete Townsend tribute band, trying to learn as many of his songs as we could. Eventually, we realized that it was inevitable: we were meant to play reggae, even if none of us had the hot surfer bods, the bleached rent-a-locks, or the cute nasal vocal capabilities typical of the genre. That’s when we decided to add “Against the Current” to our repertoire and make our comeback to the world of reggae music. Like most drummers, Mark isn’t usually mentioned in terms of songwriting; but the solid, steady 4-on-the-floor riddim and the percussive accents throughout this track are but a small taste of the creativity with which he complements the other Razors.

Mark wasn’t always such a talented and meticulous drummer, however. In fact, when he was born, he was completely incapable of playing drums. It is hard to believe after all these years, but Mark was born with no arms, and only a stump, and two legs. His mother, presidential candidate Joanne Huntsman, recalls that heartbreaking day:

After hours of pointless labor, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! How did that thing come out of me? I begged and begged the doctor to take it back, to keep it there at the hospital. I couldn’t take it home with me – what would my family think? I lay there in my hospital bed for years, wishing it were just another horrible stump-baby nightmare. And all of a sudden came a miracle that changed everything.

That miracle she’s referring to was none other than Mark’s fairy godmother, who granted unto the child not just one arm, but two, and the most state-of-the-art stump extension treatment in the history of treatments. Glorious day! But the gift of a somewhat normal body did not come without certain stipulations. Before leaving the maternity ward that day, the fairy godmother said unto him, “Yea, child, thou must go forth into the world with good vibes of comfort and joy, spreading reggae unto all nations. But beware – do not play ‘No Woman, No Cry’ for any audience, unless you have been paid at least $5000 (US) in advance, lest thine arms be withered and thine stump forever rancid.”

Mark heeded the words of his fairy godmother, and has since lived a relatively happy life, considering he suffers from chronic cynicism and athlete’s foot on all three feet. He lives in an unpronounceably-named village in Chester County, Pennsylvania, blessed by a matrimonial connection to one of the world’s sweetest women, Allyson. They have a dog, Izzie, and upwards of 300 cats, all named Joshua. “It’s a lot of fun, really,” he explains. “I get a sort of sick pleasure yelling at the cats all day long. ‘Joshua, Joshua, Joshua….’ It’s kinda like counting triplets on a hi-hat: ‘Trip-el-et, Trip-el-et, Trip-el-et… Jo-shu-a, Jo-shu-a, Jo-shu-a….’ I know, I’m silly.”

Silly, yes. That describes Mark to a T. But T is just one letter, and without all of the other letters of the alphabet – letters that stand for awesome, percussive, funny, highly intelligent, thoughtful, business savvy, loyal – you wouldn’t have enough letters to make up the one word that describes him best: Mark Patterson.

Here's a picture of Mark playing his instruments. Johnny's son Jonah calls him "Gark," but Mark secretly hates that.